Millions of the world's
hungriest people live in the Horn of Africa. Poverty,
drought and conflict are all part of the landscape where
some 13 million men, women and children are currently
threatened by famine. There are no quick fixes for this
appalling situation. Long-term commitment and concrete
actions are essential if the world is not to fail these
people.

When the severity of the current crisis
became obvious in April 2000, UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan created the Inter-Agency Task
Force on the UN Response to
Long-Term Food Security, Agricultural Development and
Related Aspects in the Horn of Africa. The countries
involved are: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia,
Sudan and Uganda.

These satellite
images indicate the vegetation cover in Ethiopia
and Somalia between 11 and 20 June. They are part
of the Global Information and Emergency Warning
System's
(GIEWS)Database
on Food and Agriculture for Eastern
Africa.
Monitoring vegetation cover and cold cloud duration
in the Horn of Africa will be an essential part of
preventing food shortages in the region.

The Database
contains the complete series of images for the 2000
growing season. For Ethiopia click here.
For Somalia click here.

The Task Force is chaired by FAO's
Director-General Dr. Jacques Diouf and draws on the
resources and expertise of ten UN agencies. At a meeting in
Geneva on 29 June, the Task Force presented a Framework for
Action to end chronic malnutrition in the region that was
broadly endorsed by the UN Administrative Committee on
Co-ordination (ACC).

The Horn of Africa has some of the
world's highest levels of malnutrition. As Dr. Diouf said in
his opening statement at the meeting: "Drought and conflict
are the main causes which have exacerbated the problem of
food production, distribution and access within an already
difficult environment of fragile ecosystems, poverty, and
sometimes poor economic performance and
governance."

More than half the region's people
survive on less than US$1 a day. Because of this, the
Framework for Action focuses both on improving food security
and on reducing poverty. To create lasting food security in
the Horn of Africa, development initiatives will need to
address a broad range of interrelated issues, including
nutrition, health, sanitation, education and rural
infrastructure development.

Recurrent droughts in the region have hit
rural areas particularly hard, with pastoral communities the
most seriously affected. In Ethiopia, for example, nomadic
pastoralists have lost about 50 percent of their cattle and
20 percent of their sheep during the latest drought.
Small-scale farmers living on the edge of subsistence are
also extremely vulnerable to drought.

Ongoing military conflicts have made the
food crisis in the region immeasurably worse. Money spent on
weapons is money not spent on food production and long-term
development. This discourages donors and has slashed
official development assistance to the region by 40 percent
since 1991. Countries now receive only US$15 per capita a
year.

The Framework for Action proposes a
ten-year strategy based on consultations with governments in
the region, UN agencies and donors. The long-term goal is to
free the countries in the Horn of Africa from their
dependence on external assistance and to restore basic human
rights to their people - especially the right to food.
According to the Task Force's interim report, "preventing
famine and achieving better livelihoods will take years and
involve fundamental social transformation".

Although the region has seen some
economic growth, this has not led to any visible benefits to
the poor and hungry. The Task Force emphasizes that
"governments and donors need to reassess their approach to
addressing absolute poverty and food insecurity by providing
more resources and targeting their assistance to the poorest
communities, especially those living in the most neglected
parts of the region."

Broadening opportunities to secure and
increase household incomes is vital. For example, combining
livestock with agriculture can increase food production and
safeguard rural communities from drought and other
crises.

The report states that each country in
the Horn of Africa will require action-oriented policies
that respond directly to the needs of the poor and hungry.
For these development initiatives to succeed, they will need
a high level of participation from local communities. The
Task Force recognizes that this process will be a lengthy
one, requiring "a long-term and reliable engagement, which
spans many more years than the typical development
project."

The Task Force's next major task is
intensified consultation with the countries involved "to
achieve an effective long-term programme of concerted
action." After finalizing country strategies, the Task Force
will submit its final report during the UN General Assembly
next October.